Racism manifested by police stops, microaggressions at work, discriminatory and hostile treatment while shopping for groceries and doing other innocuous tasks, and systemic inequalities in housing and education take an enormous toll—both physically and psychologically.
Author: Michele Goodwin
Michele Bratcher Goodwin is a prolific thoughtleader on matters of constitutional law and health policy. In addition to Ms. magazine, Dr. Goodwin's commentary can be read in The Atlantic, The New York Times, the Nation, CNN and The L.A. Times, among others. She holds the Linda D. & Timothy J. O'Neill chair in constitutional law and global health policy at Georgetown Law School and serves as the co-faculty director of the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. She is the executive producer of Ms. Studios.
![Policing In America: A Deadly Disease Rooted in Slavery [Who Killed George Floyd? Part II]](https://msmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Policing-In-America_-A-Deadly-Disease-Rooted-in-Slavery-Who-Killed-George-Floyd_-Part-II-270x145.png)
Policing In America: A Deadly Disease Rooted in Slavery [Who Killed George Floyd? Part II]
Policing is part of America’s origin story and its history of enslavement, kidnapping and trafficking of Black people.
This article is the second installment in a three-part series examining police violence as symptomatic of broader social and cultural injustice, racism and anti-Blackness—including in one of America’s most liberal communities.
Who Killed George Floyd? Hidden Truths About Midwestern Racism
“In many ways, Minnesota and Wisconsin have become the new south. The disparities we’re seeing rival anything in the Jim Crow era.”
This article is the first installment in a three-part series that asks what can we learn from officer-involved killings, which on their own can appear isolated and disconnected from larger social conditions and cultural dynamics.
Rest in Power: Sue Ellen Allen, Advocate to the End
On Feb. 24, the world lost a bright light whose fiery passion matched her signature red hair: my friend, Sue Ellen Allen.
Indefatigable. Courageous breast cancer survivor. Former inmate. Humble. Gracious. Generous. Vulnerable.
The Forgotten Reproductive Justice Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King
Dr. King described family planning as “a special and urgent concern.”
The contrasts between the conversations taking place in the public sphere now versus then are striking. Dr. King would likely be horrified by the state’s oversized role in determining how and when women can control their reproductive health.
Removing Trump from The White House Will Not Fix What’s Broken in America
This anti-democratic virus is more than a passing phase; it infects the soul of our democracy and reaches well beyond Trump. The president is only a symptom of a larger, endemic problem.
A defeat of Donald Trump at the ballot box will not undo the growing mistrust of the Supreme Court and concerns about its commitment to protecting fundamental civil liberties, including voting rights.
Women’s Inequality Has Been Maintained by Force of Law. Ruth Bader Ginsburg Knew This.
Justice Ginsburg took seriously the human dignity of women and girls and her jurisprudence represented that. She understood the myriad ways in which state violence: physical, economic and psychological undercuts women’s potential and undermines their safety, liberty, equality, autonomy and privacy.
Why We Need a Reproductive Justice Bill of Rights
The biases of poverty, sex and race have always motivated reproductive policing.
The U.S. needs a reproductive justice bill of rights—because without it, we continue to risk the gravest atrocities carried out with the official endorsement of the state on women and girls in the United States.
It’s Time to Confront Senator Helms’ Sexist, Racist and Homophobic Legacy
The Helms Amendment—named for the late, self-proclaimed bigot, Senator Jesse Helms (R-N.C.)—prohibits U.S. aid for pregnancy terminations. It’s time to repeal the Helms Amendment and replace it with sound policy that supports full reproductive healthcare access. That is what women abroad deserve: our respect.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—Meet Ms. Mary Hamilton
The special venom and bigotry behind such slurs lobbed at women of color are unmistakable as history teaches us.
For me, that’s why Ms. Mary Hamilton’s story comes to mind.